UPDATE: Hiker David Snider was found alive this morning. Read more here.

Olympic National Park just issued this statement:

A search is in progress for a solo hiker who is overdue from a planned day hike in Olympic National Park.  It is believed that David Snider, 55 years old, of Union, Washington, had planned to hike on Monday, May 7, along the Irely Lake Loop Trail.

Olympic National Park dispatch received a report from the Olympic National Forest that Snidder was reported overdue to them on Wednesday morning. Contact with the reporting party was made at 10:50am by Park Law Enforcement personnel.

Snidder’s vehicle

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Olympic National Park has announced that Whiskey Bend Road will reopen Friday, as will the Upper Lake Mills Trail and Upper Lake Aldwell area.

Here are the specific:

Whiskey Bend Road

Repairs to the Whiskey Bend Road are nearing completion and the road will reopen to vehicles Friday.This 4.5-mile gravel road connects the Elwha Valley’s Olympic Hot Springs Road to the Whiskey Bend trailhead.

Repairs were made by Cherokee Construction of Vancouver, Washington and were originally estimated to last four weeks and cost up to $190,000. The project was completed two weeks early and at a total cost of $162,000.

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Olympic National Park superintendent Karen Gustin plans to retire March 2. Gustin has been the superintendent at Olympic since 2008.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working at Olympic National Park,” she said in a prepared statement. “The staff is a great group of people to work with, as are the communities of the Olympic Peninsula.  The community support and our park neighbors have been wonderful here.”

In Gustin’s time at Olympic, the park started the removal of the Elwha River dam, the nationa;s largest dam removal. The project is scheduled to be complete in September 2014. The park has also started …

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From Olympic National Park:

On Saturday, September 17, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will join Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Congressman Norm Dicks, and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles to officially mark the beginning of the Elwha River dam removal project. The event marks a significant milestone for the Elwha River Restoration project which will help increase salmon populations, uphold commitments to the culture of the Elwha Klallam Tribe, and create new opportunities for growth and regional vitality.

The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. PDT and the streaming of the ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. through the following link:  http://celebrateelwha.com. Showcasing the first step in dam removal, an excavator will remove the first concrete from the Elwha Dam.  A big-screen showing of the ceremony will take place at Elwha Central at the Port Angeles City Pier in Port Angeles and at the Mountaineers Outdoors Fest at Magnuson Park in Seattle.

Tom Skerritt, board member of the nonprofit group American Rivers and actor will serve as master of ceremonies. The ceremony will include musical interludes by singer/songwriters Eliza Gilkyson and Dana Lyons, who will each perform an original work.  Students from the Port Angeles High School will also perform and area artists have created original pieces to help tell the story of Elwha River Restoration.

This ceremony is part of the weeklong series of events in and around Port Angeles, Sequim and the Elwha Valley. Hosted by dozens of sponsors, partners and participants, the events are  commemorating the history and celebrating the future of this landmark project, while educating visitors about dam removal and restoration, Olympic National Park and the North Olympic Peninsula. A full schedule of events and more information is available online at celebrateelwha.com.

The Elwha River Restoration is an environmental and cultural restoration project which includes the nation’s largest dam removal and will free the Elwha River after nearly a century. Removing the 108-foot Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam will allow anadromous fish to access more than 70 miles of protected habitat and help restore the river’s salmon populations from 3,000 to more than 300,000.
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From Olympic National Park:

Olympic National Park has instituted a ban on all open fires in the park’s wilderness backcountry, effective as of September 10, 2011. The ban is in response to the warmer temperatures of summer and the continued drying out of forest fuels, both forecast to continue in coming weeks.

This ban has been instituted in conjunction with the Olympic National Forest, and is expected to be in place until seasonal rains occur in October.

“With the forecast for warmer than normal temperatures and drier conditions, as well as seeing an increase in human-caused fires in

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Details on the Hurricane Ridge Ride from Olympic National Park:

Olympic National Park will host an exciting opportunity for cyclists to “Ride the Hurricane” on Sunday, August 7.

“Ride the Hurricane” is a recreational ride up Hurricane Ridge Road, organized by the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by several local businesses. Registration information is available on the Chamber’s website at portangeles.org/ride-the-hurricane.html.

To ensure safety of all event participants, Hurricane Ridge Road will close to all vehicle traffic between the Heart O¹ the Hills entrance station and Hurricane Ridge, starting August 7 at 5:00 a.m. and ending at

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From Olympic National Park:

The Jefferson County Public Works Department has announced that repairs to the Willoughby Creek Bridge, on Upper Hoh Road near milepost 3.5, will start on August 1.

Access to the Hoh Rain Forest of Olympic National Park will remain open throughout the repair work, but some traffic delays are anticipated.

According to Jefferson County officials, the repair work will require a limited number of one-hour closures. These one-hour closures are scheduled to occur starting August 8 through August 11, and will only occur between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

Jefferson County, which maintains

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Thirteen native fishers will be released Saturday the last release in a three-year effort to reintroduce the species to Olympic National Park.

The animals will be let go in the Elwha and Quinault valleys, and bring the total of reintroduced animals to 90. Seven males and six females will be released.

“As we complete the reintroduction phase of this project, we celebrate the many partners who have and will continue to make fisher restoration possible,” superintendent Karen Gustin said in a prepared statement. “Together we’ve come very close to reaching the original goal of releasing 100 fishers in the park, …

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